I learned how to swallow them

With M&M’s;

That way, I could pretend that the little yellow pills

With the strange numbers printed on them

Were sweet.


But they were not.

Sometimes I left them on my tongue for too long

And felt the unpleasant bitterness

Fester on my taste buds.

It reminded me of why I took them.


I never really understood what that meant

Until I found that my friends

Didn’t want to hear about it.

So I took them in the dark

After everyone had fallen asleep.






No one wanted to deal with it;

Not even me.

I took those little yellow pills for eight years,

Never telling anyone that they

Weren’t enough.